Digimon Data Squad Collection One (3pc) (Ws Box) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was a fan of the original series when I was younger (and me being a dork I still am), and this series is fine for kids, but for anime lovers I would recommend saving your money. The dub sounds lazy, there's no original japanese track on it, and don't even get me started on the editing. Overall this was released and meant to pass as a children's cartoon, not an anime. If you're a fan of the original digimon series looking for a walk down memory lane look elsewhere.

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This first ever Digimon Data Squad Collection One set contains 13 full episodes from the newest Digimon series. Follow the adventures of Marcus, a cool junior high school student, and his favorite Digimon Agumon as they investigate their way through the Digital World battling Digital Monsters in exciting and different situations. Marcus best friends Thomas and Yoshino with their Digimon partners Gaomon and Lalamon join in the adventures and help challenge and battle strong opponents along the way. Experience the final Digimon series like never before.EPISODES INCLUDEThere are Monsters Among UsMarcus' Inner StrenghtThe Return of ThomasThe New Team of Marcus and ThomasDigital World, Here We ComeThe Ultimate Team No MoreA Birthday Kristy Will Never ForgetThe Singer's SecretNever Meet Your HeroesCurse This Curse-Marcus' Bad DayThe Vile Of VilemonThe Digi-egg That Fell To EarthThe Rise of Greymon

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Transformers: Season One (Collector's Edition) (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought about ordering this DVD set for some time but had held off. I thought it was rather pricey. Along came by birthday, though, and I decided to buy myself a little something....
I forgot how good this show really was. It was incredibly loyal to the each of the characters and everything at this point. The voice actors are an all star cast as well.
The remastering job was very good when you consider what they had to work with to start. They cleaned up a lot of noise and dirt off of the film and made the colors a lot more vivid and clear. There are some occasional sound effects added, but they are not intrustive and not that frequent, really. A couple of scenes in "Heavy Metal War", the last episode on the disc, turned out pretty poor, but otherwise they did an awesome job restoring this first season run, even including the original opening of the show and the commercial bumpers.
I am still annoyed by the constant coloring mistakes made by the original animators of the show. I guess it's part of the charm, and it's probably best that Rhino left them like they were. I remember these coloring mistakes in the original series just as well, and it even bothered me back then in 1984-85 that Sunbow couldn't seem to tell the difference between Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp most of the time (though as the series goes on past the first 5 or 6, they DO get better about it...save for the part in Heavy Metal War where there are two Starscreams side by side, one of which was supposed to be Skywarp).
I wish Rhino would take out the stupid cartoon openings on their videos and DVDs, though. While I know they are mostly a children's video company, with things like Transformers and GI Joe, they are mostly catering to adults...adults who don't want to sit through a cartoon rhino dressed like Elvis at the start of each disc while we wait for the menu to appear.
Overall, if you grew up with this original series of Transformers, as I did, you will very much enjoy this set. I enjoyed every minute of it, and can hardly wait until late November now, where Rhino releases the first half of Season 2 in a box set. The second half of Season 2 follows in the Spring.
So if you are waiting like I did, stop waiting now. After watching this, I felt like a kid again, and you will too.

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WWE: Summerslam: The Complete Anthology (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)*****Nov. 2008 - I just want to go on record and say that I think SUMMERSLAM 2008 is a great PPV. I have a more detailed review somewhere in my Profile, if you'd like to read it. My ANTHOLOGY review is below. *****I'm gonna give you two reviews for the price of one:
* SUMMERSLAM ANTHOLOGY REVIEW
* AN EXTRA TWO CENTS ON WWE DVD SETS
[Better sit back. This is gonna take me a while. Hope you like!]
SUMMMERSLAM ANTHOLOGY REVIEW
---I'd wager that most haven't seen the first few SUMMERSLAM PPVs. While they're not very memorable, they're still worth a look. For example, from the first SUMMERSLAM back in 1988, everyone knows how Ultimate Warrior squashed Intercontinental champion Honky Tonk Man in 30 seconds. But hopefully, newcomers will be more awed by the excellent Tag Team Titles Match between The Hart Foundation and Demolition. Plus, the main event between "Mega Powers" Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage against Ted Dibiase's "Mega Bucks" team is an entertaining star-power showcase. 1988 was a solid event, and definitely warranted a follow-up the next year.
Sadly, I think 1989 is best remembered for its outstanding opener and for its cheap finale. The Hart Foundation against The Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson) is a classic that Tag Team fans will love. But I always thought that the main event (Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake against Zeus & Randy Savage) felt like an expensive plug for the movie 'No Holds Barred'. Besides, it wasn't an entertaining match.
Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude have a solid Steel Cage Match for the WWF Title for 1990's SUMMERSLAM, and Hulk Hogan against Earthquake ain't too bad of a co-main event, either. But Demolition and Hart Foundation once again stole the show with another Tag Team Titles masterpiece. Man, tag action was the real deal back then.
Bret Hart and "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig were never boring to watch. But in August 1991, their technical classic was one of their best ever. If Hitman wasn't yet a superstar, then August 1991 was his biggest push. His IC Title victory got people almost as excited as the main event: a 3-on-2 Handicap Match with Sgt. Slaughter's "Iraqi" team against Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. Although Warrior's alleged backstage powerplay might cast a dark cloud over things, the match is quite entertaining in its own right. Oh, and I don't care what anyone else says...that Savage/Elizabeth wedding is touching...even if it was a few years late.
Big props to the World Wrestling Federation for letting Bret Hart and British Bulldog close the 1992 show with their IC Title masterpiece. Wembley Arena wanted to see this once more than any other on the card, and Hitman has always called this match his favorite. But another highlight you'll want to see is Randy Savage defend the WWF Title against Ultimate Warrior, a showdown I consider to be better than their 1991 Retirement Match. The storyline involving Mr. Perfect and Ric Flair is quite bizarre, but overall, it's good stuff. Also bizarre is some "no-face-hitting" encounter between Shawn Michaels and Rick "The Model" Martel. Don't ask...
So far, SUMMERSLAM has been an exceptional PPV series. But 1993's was probably their least successful at the time. There is some good stuff to watch, still. Mr. Perfect and Shawn Michaels delivered an outstanding IC Title Match. Bret Hart's grudge match against "Burger King" Jerry Lawler was hilariously delayed, as Hitman had to face Doink The Clown before he could get his hands on Lawler. Sean "1-2-3 Kid" Waltman's PPV debut against IRS is an admirable showing, as is Razor Ramon's opener against Ted Dibiase. Where most will disagree with me is on the Taker/Gonzales and Luger/Yokozuna matches. Even with his poor outfit and in-ring ability, I was never bored with Giant Gonzales when he faced Undertaker. And although I agree that Lex Luger never achieved the "American Hero" status WWF wanted, everyone got behind Luger during this summer. I think we all wanted to see Yokozuna dethroned of the title; at the time, Luger was the man for the job. This was a decent PPV amidst a subpar year for the WWF.
1994's presentation in the United Centre (my hometown of Chicago) was an excellent card, but also included two ridiculous scenarios. The first dumb thing is the Taker-vs-Taker main event. As Mark Calaway once said, "On paper, I thought it was a good idea, but we didn't get the mileage we wanted." The other problem is that Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy bumble around trying to solve the mystery of The Undertaker......huh? This must've been a 'Naked Gun 33 1/3' promotion; I can't decide if I want WWE to edit this out or not. But the 1994 event features the priceless Bret/Owen Steel Cage Match; those two could steal the show by just looking at each other. Their rivalry remains a pinnacle among wrestling feuds. I also really enjoyed Razor Ramon challenging IC champion Diesel for his title, with HBK at ringside. A great PPV with a little WWF family-friendly garbage.
You only need to watch 1995's SUMMERSLAM for the HBK/Razor Ladder Match. Other than that, you can just break this disc into pieces to sell as knockoff jewelry. It's that bad.
1996 features a very good HBK/Vader main event, and a pretty solid undercard. What might hold this one back is the Boiler Room Brawl between Undertaker and Mankind. While this remains an awesome rivalry, the action hasn't aged well. At the time, these 30 minutes of violence were off the charts by WWF's standards. But now, the overall atmosphere and shocking finish are the best highlights. Still, 1996 warrants a peek.
The very first live PPV I purchased was 1997's SUMMERSLAM, in which the new Hart Foundation had a stipulation for each of their matches. Brian Pillman is still a frightening individual, which helps keep his gold-dress angle against Goldust entertaining. The British Bulldog's dog-food-eating angle with Ken Shamrock wasn't too bad, nor was the match itself. However, the last two matches are the real reason to watch. Sadly, this was the night that Owen Hart accidentally broke Stone Cold Steve Austin's neck via piledriver. However, it's still a very good contest with a sad finish. As for the main event, I'm not the biggest fan of Bret Hart and Undertaker's matches together, but this is an exception. Perhaps it was having Shawn Michaels as guest referee. I dunno, but out of all of the Taker/Hart encounters, this was easily my favorite. Oh, I almost forgot about the HHH/Mankind Steel Cage opener...in a word, awesome! One more thing, I hope that WWE doesn't cut the cash-giveaway-sweepstakes that happened in the middle...it was corny and funny as hell.
We kick off the Attitude Era of the package with 1998's edition. I was never a fan of the Attitude Era, but for this one, I really enjoyed myself. While The Rock and Triple H stole the show with their IC Title Ladder Match, everyone can look forward to the best Undertaker/Austin encounter in history. Those two men must've had to bust their tails when they had to follow the Ladder Match; they succeeded and then some. Throw in an X-Pac/Jarrett Hair-vs-Hair Match and a good opener between Val Venis and D'Lo Brown, and 1998 is a year you can look forward to.
You can also get revved up to watch 1999's SUMMERSLAM. Jesse Ventura officiates the Mankind/HHH/Austin main event with no particular set of rules. If he doesn't like what he sees, "The Body" makes the wrestler win under fairer methods. Also on this card is the Greenwich Street Fight between Test and Shane McMahon, where Stephanie McMahon's relationship with Test is in jeopardy. That's right: The Billion Dollar Princess was romantically tied to someone on TV before Paul Levesque entered the picture. Basically, Shane-O-Mac never had a better match until facing Kurt Angle in a Street Fight a couple years later. One more compliment to the PPV: Doesn't Undertaker & Big Show against Kane & X-Pac sound like a terrible match? Trust me, it's a most enjoyable showdown. The card gets rough during the 0:30-1:30 time period, but it's still a very good event.
2000's card is also pretty solid. It includes the first triangle TLC Match (my all-time favorite Ladder Match). Also included is a kicking 2-out-of-3 Falls showcase between Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. And the Angle/HHH/Rock main event, while mostly a one-on-one affair, is still entertaining. There are a few stinkers (like the repetitive and pointless Undertaker/Kane slugfest). But overall, I like this one.
The 2001 SUMMERSLAM featured the second PPV showdown between the WCW/ECW Alliance and the WWF. The "Invasion" angle has its critics, but the talent was rarely stronger, making this PPV one of the anthology's best. You get to see Edge's first singles title victory, The Rock's first WCW Title victory, Jeff Hardy and RVD in a Ladder Match...do I really need to go on? Well, I'll also let you get excited to watch Kurt Angle and Steve Austin just tear the house down. Angle (to my knowledge) has never received a stronger crowd reaction. Just watch the PPV; you won't regret it.
My favorite SUMMERSLAM of all time is easily the 2002 presentation from Long Island, NY. Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio almost steal the show with their fast-paced opener. But even better is Shawn Michaels' return to the WWE, as he faces Triple H in a classic Street Fight. Nobody thought HBK could still deliver a match this great, let alone just survive without killing his body. However, my strongest praise goes to Brock Lesnar and The Rock for their stellar main event. They put in a lot of hype and build-up going in, and the two men delivered the blockbuster we expected. The crowd went nuts for this, and I...Read more›

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For twenty years now, the hottest action during the hottest months could be found in only one place SummerSlam! The WWE s signature event of the summer has seen a number of memorable championship bouts and grudge matches, and for the first time, fans can get all 20 years in one DVD set more than 60 hours and 200 matches! The first 13 years have never been released on DVD.

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Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2 (Box Set) Review

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(More customer reviews)Once upon a time in El Paso, Texas a wedding party is slaughtered execution style. However, it turns out that the Bride (Uma Thurman), who is pregnant, is not dead but in a coma. Four years later she wakes up, no longer pregnant, in time to save herself from insult being added to her injury. Then the Bride puts together her list of people to kill: (1) Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), (2) O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), (3) Budd (Michael Madsen), (4) Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), and (5) Bill (David Carradine). In "Kill Bill, Volume 1," the Bride only gets to the first two names on her list, albeit not in that order the way the film is cut, and then proceeds to the rest in Volume 2. This does not constitute a spoiler because you cannot have a film called "Kill Bill" that does at least get to the title character, regardless of the results. But then this was a do-it-yourself "Box Set" (I bought the two DVDs and they gave me a box to put together).
There is more happening in the each film besides the kill list, such as an anime telling us how O-Ren Ishii became the Queen of the Tokyo underworld and the training sequence in which the Bride studies with the great Pai Mei. But in the first film the primary emphasis is on how the Bride takes out her first two victims and the triumph of style as substance, especially when style means fountains of blood gushing from human beings that would make Akira Kurosawa proud. With "Pulp Fiction" Tarantino made his impression upon our ears with scene after scene of great dialogue. No wonder the soundtrack for that film had clips of some of what came rolling off the tongues of the actors (usually Samuel L. Jackson, who only plays a corpse in these films). But with "Kill Bill, Volume 1" Tarantino's blood feast is mostly for the eyes. This film is not for everybody, but then what Quentin Tarantino film ever was?
The biggest complain about Volume 1 is that it has the two most memorable sequences in the entire epic, namely watching O-Ren Ishii and her posse walk glide into the House of Blue Leaves with the blasting soundtrack giving them energy and the final showdown in an exquisite garden at night with gently falling snow where O-Ren in her white kimono and the Bride in her yellow biker suit do their dance of death with Japanese steel. Nothing in Volume 2 tops either of those scenes, which is not necessarily a bad thing, just a cinematic reality.
The caveat when Mirimax decided to split this four-hour revenge film into two volumes was that those who sensed a lack of character development and motivation in Volume 1 would be appeased by what was put forth in Volume 2, and this is indeed the case. We finally get to go back and see a couple of pivotal scenes set before the "beginning" of the film's opening, such as the massacre at the Two Pines wedding chapel. The net result is that character is more important than killing in the last half of the film, which makes sense because it would really be virtually impossible for the Bride to slice and dice more opponents than she did at the House of Blue Leaves.
I watched Volume 1 on DVD again before I went to see Volume 2 in the theater, which I thought would put me perfectly in the narrative flow. However, Quentin Tarantino has set up his audience just to play with their minds, which, of course, is what he was doing from the start and at the climax of this film I was not at all sure who, if anyone, was going to come out alive. Certainly what happens with numbers 3 and 4 are not what you expected after seeing the fate of numbers 1 and 2, but that certainly puts what happens with the final name on the list up for grabs.

There are a lot of oppositions between the two halves of this film. The beautiful setting of the duel between the Bride and O-ren in the gentle falling snow is countered by the showdown with Budd (Michael Madsen) in the harsh sunlight of his trailer in the desert. Having devoted an entire chapter to Hattori Hanzo creating his most perfect sword for the Bride, it is amazing how hard it is to get the sword out of its scabbard in this one. Volume 1 was a feast for the eyes, but in Volume 2 Tarantino's dialogue becomes more prominent, although not quite up to the level of "Pulp Fiction." But the dialogue is important because before we get around to the titular business of this film, the Bride and Bill have got to have themselves a conversation. Sound also matters more in this film: there is one sequence that is effectively done in the dark.
I am barely acquainted with the genre of Hong Kong films that Tarantino was apparently weaned on, so everything is fairly new to me and consequently smacks more of homage than parody, which is no doubt the director's intent. I probably will not go out and check out some of the films that inspired Tarantino to do "Kill Bill" which have been pointed out to me, because they will undoubtedly pale in comparison to the slicked up version that he is serving for our American palates. All things considered, I have a definite preference for Volume 1, which seems to run counter to the prevailing sentiments, but it took me a while to be comfortable with how the two parts fit together. The key thing is that they do, without Volume 2 being simply more of the same, because it is definitely not. There is something to be said for Tarantino pulling out all the stops just to have fun.

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Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 1 is trash for connoisseurs. From his opening gambit (including a "Shaw-Scope" logo and gaudy '70s-vintage "Our Feature Presentation" title card) to his cliffhanger finale (a teasing lead-in to 2004's Vol. 2), Tarantino pays loving tribute to grindhouse cinema, specifically the Hong Kong action flicks and spaghetti Westerns that fill his fervent brain--and this frequently breathtaking movie--with enough cinematic references and cleverly pilfered soundtrack cues to send cinephiles running for their reference books. Everything old is new again in Tarantino's humor-laced vision: he steals from the best while injecting his own oft-copied, never-duplicated style into what is, quite simply, a revenge flick, beginning with the near-murder of the Bride (Uma Thurman), pregnant on her wedding day and left for dead by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (or DiVAS)--including Lucy Liu and the unseen David Carradine (as Bill)--who become targets for the Bride's lethal vengeance. Culminating in an ultraviolent, ultra-stylized tour-de-force showdown, Tarantino's fourth film is either brilliantly (and brutally) innovative or one of the most blatant acts of plagiarism ever conceived. Either way, it's hyperkinetic eye-candy from a passionate film-lover who clearly knows what he's doing.

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